Act 2: what is a survivable party?

[Fozzforus]

I am up to my 3rd attempt at the second act after dozens of plays that failed in act 1. Even after clearing everything in existence in Act 1, the difficulty spike at the beginning of Act 2 is just too much to handle. Should I just respec my entire party and say screw canon? What sort of party has the abilities handle what you face in Act 2 (and 3 for that matter).

My main right now is 5 levels of paladin, 1 level of bard. Everyone is base aside from Astarion who am giving levels of Gloomstalker.

If the rest of the game is like this, I might be done. I was hoping for a payoff and I'm just getting more boring, difficult, slog through meaningless and forgettable missions.

[FunkyMonkey]

Paladin level 6 is big boost in terms of saving throws, you could consider that. I'm right now playing a Paladin/Bard and I went with 6 levels of Paladin first and after that rest in Bard. I went DEX based with sword and shield, too.

The canon classes should be just fine. Shadowheart as a cleric has some really nice spells to use in Act 2, namely Spirit guardians. Boost her AC (her Trickery domain helps in this with Mirror images) and cast Spirit guardians and she will melt enemies.

As a Paladin you could use your concentration for Bless when Shadowheart isn't doing that.

Who are you using in your team right now?

[alanc9]

It shouldn't be that difficult compared to late Act 1 fights. Your PC should be able to hit very hard now.

Can you give an example of what you're having trouble with?

On my most recent run, I didn't have much trouble with a swords bard 6 (taking paladin levels after that, so kind of the reverse of your build). In outdoors areas, I'd typically have one of Karlach or Lae'zel for a second physical combatant, Shadowheart doing Spirit Guardians as FunkyMonkey suggested, and Gale or maybe Wyll for ranged damage and AoEs.

[Annie Other]

I started Act 2 with my MC (Light Cleric 7), Karlach (Berserker 5, Vengeance Paladin 2), Shadowheart (still a Trickery Cleric, won't change that until there is story hook) and Wyll (Warlock 5, Storm Sorcerer 2).
The only non-hostile creature I ever attacked was the Illithid on the Nautiloid. So there may be stuff left you can do in Act 1. Getting to level 7 is definitely possible.

I am playing on Balanced only, but I suck at strategy, always forget the half and pick things based on what I feel fits the character/story (or fits the least for some extra hilarious absurdity) rather than what would be most efficient.
Had no problems with winning fights yet.

[Thorak]

You need to specify what you are having problems with. I would first suggest you to get Alert feat on your whole party. Secondly start the day with casting aid on max lvl on your whole party if you are using Shadowheart.

It doesn't sound like your build is that weak otherwise, it's probably your way of playing or something else that is problematic, like putting your chars at risk, not using the "correct" items, using the wrong spells and so on. Act2 fights are considerably harder than Act1 in my opinion, but many times there are persuation checks and similar that makes them easier.

[Fozzforus]

I'm using all the characters. A barely eeked through the battle where you meet the Harpers and now the drider just took 3 turns to reduce my party to ashes.

My Paladin isn't outputting damage like I want. Karlach is and is probably the most useful character I have. My Wyll is a glass canon who misses more than I would like, similarly Astarion. I know how to use Gale from actual dnd experience, but so much in this game is resistant to magic (I DM'd Descent to Avernus and the same thing drove me completely nuts in there). Karlach is better than Laezel and if I them all together with my paladin its too much meat party.

I will take your advice and up my cleric game. I'm trying to rely on 3.5e skills from NWN and the cleric is very, very different.

Edit: My paladin is, however, unfairly op in places where you need radiant damage.

[alanc9]

Alert is a little busted in BG3 , yeah.

[Good Night Owl]

Loot a lot of stuff, sell it, buy good AOE scrolls, and use them. Don't just stockpile them. They pretty much always hit something, and hurt a lot when they do hit.

Some of the toughest fights in this game can be beat by using scrolls, it almost feels abusive. Almost.

[FunkyMonkey]

Originally posted by Fozzforus:

Edit: My paladin is, however, unfairly op in places where you need radiant damage.

Oh, you are going to love Clerics then :D

Also, I don't think there is "magic resistance" per say. Are the enemies making their saves more often than not? You can use T to inspect enemies and see what are their weakest saves and then try and use spells targeting those saves against them. That also means that you should try and be mindful when preparing for the day to have spells that target different saves.

Or use spells that don't allow saves, at all. Rangers for example have Spike growth, Wizards Cloud of daggers and Clerics Spirit guardians. Spirit guardians does allow a save for half damage, but it's a on-going effect, so it doesn't really matter.

[alanc9]

Originally posted by Fozzforus:

I'm using all the characters. A barely eeked through the battle where you meet the Harpers and now the drider just took 3 turns to reduce my party to ashes.

Hmm... usually the drider takes himself out of the fight for several rounds by casting Sanctuary, which gives you time to clobber the mooks.

My Paladin isn't outputting damage like I want.

Can you post your stats and gear?

[alanc9]

Originally posted by FunkyMonkey:

Paladin level 6 is big boost in terms of saving throws, you could consider that. I'm right now playing a Paladin/Bard and I went with 6 levels of Paladin first and after that rest in Bard. I went DEX based with sword and shield, too.

The downside is that P5/B2 gets level 3 slots, while P6/B1 does not. Better slots means better Smites.

[Gustuv Wynd]

I never used Astarion, I can't stand the guy. However, I have heard that the damage from sneaky characters starts falling behind the curve at level 5. So you might wat to replace him. if you are having a hard time.

Wyll just seems curesed to me. I never can hit anything with him either, but I gave up in act 1. Like even if he has 90% chance to hit with advantage he seems to miss with his Eldrich blast most the time. Plus I ended up not really liking his character either. He just sits in my camp...alone since I don't even recruit the other companions.

I have played though the game three times so far but I took Karlach, Shadowheart, and Gale. My MCs were a swords bard with a bow (normal difficulty), a warlock that didn't miss so much (also normal), and a scorceror (tactician). No multi-classing and I left the NPCs on their defaults. I can't say I ever had much of an issue. Basically I just buff Karlach (especially haste) and she handles the majority of combat. Make sure to use her leaps even if you don't have to. She can leap to an enemy, kill it, and then have a smidge of movement left to move into the threaten space of another enemy, Gale hasted was pretty good too. Enemies run towards him because his AC is lowest most of the time. In early act 2 I would do a thing where I would cast dagger cloud and thunder wave enemies through it...and if they were still alive they would run through the cloud agian on their next turn....if they didn't I'd thorn wip pull a couple through it...or just fireball everything if had level 3 spells.

I am actually doing a Karlach origin run right now with Gale and Shdowheart...and the halfling hired companion that I am doing a tempest 2/sorceror 10 build on since the other characters annoy me. Still in act one though. Kind of disappointing to be honest, I was hoping for some story differences with the Karlach origin, but so far it has been the same as my other runs. Hopefully that changes.

[ImaginaryFriend]

Just explore everywhere and gather all the xp. this game is hardest at low levels and becomes very easy at around level 6 and only becomes more so as levels go up.

It does not really matter what party comp you are playing, just do what feels fun. There is absolutely no need to min max even on harder difficulties. Unless that is fun for you.

[yaerav]

A light cleric is very good. Summons are excellent too., even small ones are useful as meat shields. As for the annoying plamt things, Blight works wonders!

[♂Warrior of Gachi♂]

Lower the difficulty if you can't handle the current one.

Pick one of the Larian special cheat feats like tavern brawler or alert or both to trivialize any fight.

[Gob]

An 'easy mode' party is two paladins and two sorcerers. Really takes off at level 5.

Make sure that you take Haste as a spell for the sorcerers. Cast this just before every fight with each sorcerer targeting two of your team so everyone has Haste.

For fun and OPness: At level 7 switch them around so that the paladins start adding sorcery and the sorcerers start adding paladin. Then everyone can divine smite on close attacks and can do high ranged magic damage.